The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is proposing a new fee of $103,265 for all H-1B cap-subject petitions, including those eligible for the advanced degree exemption. This fee, payable at the time of filing, would be in addition to existing charges and aims to recover a portion of the federal government’s costs for administering the lawful immigration system.
These costs encompass various operations, including immigration benefit adjudication, fraud detection, national security vetting, systems modernization, and consular visa processing. DHS estimates this proposed fee could generate approximately $8.8 billion annually, based on a projected volume of 85,000 H-1B cap-subject petitions each year.
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services spokesperson Zach Kahler said, "The proposed H‑1B fee is intended to recover the costs incurred across the federal government to adjudicate, vet, and support lawful immigration programs that otherwise must be funded by taxpayers." The additional fee would not apply to H-1B petitions exempt from the cap, such as those filed by certain nonprofit research organizations, governmental research organizations, and institutions of higher education.